In addition he pleaded guilty to three separate charges of defrauding James Hoare between 2010 and 2011, according to the Irish Independent

He told Irish police that he had led four different lives - including having a wife in Tipperary with three children, a Polish girlfriend and mother of his fourth child in Galway, plus two other fiancées.

After being introduced to Hoare, Brannigan posed as an accountant specialising in land deals. He later told him he was also a forensic accountant at a London venture capital firm, dealing in distressed property.

UK-based Hoare then engaged Brannigan as his accountant to buy him a large plot of land in County Roscommon, which the fake adviser said could be bought for €250,000.

The money, which Hoare had to take a €219,000 loan out for, was then transferred to a bank account Brannigan controlled.

But the deal never went ahead as each time the fraudster kept putting his 'client' off when he enquired whether he had bought the land.

Upon making enquiries of his own after the land price was renegotiated, Hoare found outstanding judgements against Brannigan at the High Court, prompting an admission from the fake accountant that he was in deep financial trouble.

He told Hoare that KPMG had seized the money on behalf of a company he co-founded but when asked, KPMG said there was no money in the account.

When questioned by police, they found he owned a £39,000 Landrover and that €110,000 was transferred into a Polish bank account.

Brannigan was then admitted to a psychiatric unit, where he was diagnosed with bipolar disorder.

Due to his financial situation meaning there was no chance of repayment, the judge sentenced him to two years' imprisonment, with the last 12 months suspended.

The Independent and Sunday Worldreported that Brannigan's wife previously had no knowledge of his other lives. In addition he duped not only his fraud victim but family and friends that he was a well-connected, high-earning accountant, telling people he was based in locations such as Germany, the UK and the US, and more.

He also had a lot of failed business ventures according to the papers - and left "devastated creditors" in his wake.

He won't be going to prison in Tipperary, I'll wager, as the prison there was closed down in the early 1900s. One of the largest complexes in the country was in Nenagh and was demolished to make way for girls' schools - which I attended!